


Once More, With Feeling

by buttercup23



Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Trespasser
Genre: Angst, Crack, F/M, headcanon made fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 06:39:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4777298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buttercup23/pseuds/buttercup23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elsia Lavellan discovers a reason to relive a painful moment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once More, With Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Phthalo for the head canon. This is a slightly cracky take on an angsty scene, I think?

The pain was excruciating—Elsia was certain her hand was melting into her glove—but it was nothing compared to the agony in her heart.

 _Fuck. Fuck me. Fuck everything._  In one moment every illusion she’d ever had about herself, Solas… the whole fucking  _world_ had been shattered.

He had saved her now only so he could kill her later. How could that even be? How could she have loved someone that would do this?

She lay curled in a ball on the ground, unable to move. Moving would make all this real. If she just stayed here, maybe she’d wake up from this terrible nightmare.

“Vivienne was right, my dear. You deserved so much better.”

The voice snapped her out of her despair and she jerked her head up to look. “Dorian,” she said as she struggled to sit up. “Who is this?”

“We haven’t much time to explain,” the woman standing next to Dorian said. She was small for her kind—only as tall as Elsia herself—with short blond hair and emerald green eyes. “My name is Elissa Cousland. You may have heard of me.”

“You’re the Hero of Ferelden. What… what are you doing here?” She turned to Dorian, who was dressed in silken, blue robes instead of armor. “Why did you change? What’s going on?”

Even amidst the chaos, Dorian managed a sly smirk. He cocked his head to the side and looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. “Elsia,  _think_.”

Elsia blinked rapidly, staring up in befuddlement. “You said… there wasn’t much time…”

“Wait for it…” Dorian said, holding up a finger and looking smug.

 _Of course._  “Time magic."

Dorian snapped his fingers. “I knew you would catch on. I told you she was clever.”

“Great,” Elissa said, sounding annoyed as she helped Elsia gain her feet. “You believe us.”

“Time magic… but why? When are you from, exactly?”

Dorian opened his mouth to reply but Elissa cut him off. “We’re from the future. Far enough to know what Solas has planned. Listen, Elsia… there’s no way to stop him. He’s far too powerful.”

Her stomach felt leaden. _I’ll stop you, no matter what it takes._  She’d vowed that to Solas even knowing in her heart of hearts that it was hopeless. What could she expect to do to a being who could turn them all to stone with a twitch of his eye? “Then what are you doing here?” she growled, the pain making her voice crack on the last word. “What do you want from me?”

Dorian and Elissa shared a look, and then Elissa took a deep breath. “We can’t stop him, so our only option is to convince him to change his mind. And you’re the only one who has any chance of doing that.”

She shook her head. “He’s mad. He’s convinced he has to end the world to undo his wrongs.”  _It was like walking in a world filled with tranquil,_  Solas had said. “He… he doesn’t even see us as people.”

“Us, maybe,” Elissa said with a nod. “But you? You he sees differently. You can affect him. Your love might be the only thing that keeps this world from being unmade.”

Elsia threw back her head and screamed, falling to the ground on her knees with a hard thump.  _It hurts, oh fuck it hurts…_

Black spots formed at the edges of her vision. With another strangled cry she winched her eyes shut, trying to box up the pain and push it away, if only for a few moments. “I don’t love him anymore,” she spat out when she was able to look up at Elissa again. “I hate him. I  _hate him_.”

“I know,” Elissa said simply, and then leaned forward, staring into Elsia’s eyes with a gaze that burned. “But  _he_ doesn’t know that.”

Elsia’s eyes went wide. She turned to look at Dorian, mouth agape.

His frown was sad. “I know… it’s a terrible thing to ask. But Elissa… she’s pretty brilliant for a mundane.” Elissa gave a snort at that, but Dorian ignored her. “She’s right, I think. How can we stop someone who can tear down the Veil? It’s impossible. But you…” He trailed off, biting his lip.

Elsia closed her eyes and hugged what was left of her arm to her chest. “So you want to send me back in time to convince Solas that I’m still in love with him?” She opened her eyes and glared up at Elissa. “Why didn’t you just talk to me before I spoke with him?”

“You wouldn’t have believed us until it was too late.”

_She could not keep the tears from her voice. “Solas… I never thought you were a person who could do that.”_

Elissa was right. “I… I don’t know if I can do this. He’ll know I’m lying.”

Elissa stepped forward and placed a hand on Elsia’s shoulder. “Are you though? Is there no part of you left that yet loves him? You can’t rid yourself of those feelings so easily—I know from experience.”

Elsia closed her eyes again, wishing she could block the memories that bubbled to the surface.

_His hand closed over her wrist, warm and soft, but firm, as he yanked her arm toward the rift, and a sensation like nothing she’d ever felt danced on her skin._

_No, I don’t want to remember._ But Elissa was right. She had to… for the sake of the world. She had to remind herself of all the reasons she’d fallen in love with Solas. She had to somehow find it in her to feel all of those things again, even as he told her his plan to end the world. She had to convince herself that he could be saved.

This was going to hurt.

She opened her eyes. “Alright. I’ll do it. Send me back.”

* * *

“My love… I will never forget you.”

The agony returned, only this time, there was a kernel of hope that remained.

_He bought it._


End file.
